Federal judge allows Trump to withhold grants to California as part of sanctuary city crackdown

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked for a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's decision to withhold a law enforcement grant to the state, but a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against taking that step

By: Melissa QuinnMar 6, 2018

A federal judge in Northern California has declined a request from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to block the Trump administration’s decision to withhold a law enforcement grant to the state as part of its crackdown on states and jurisdictions that protect illegal immigrants.

Becerra asked for a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's decision, but Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against taking that step.

“The injury threatened is not irreparable,” Orrick wrote. “The amount of money at stake is small compared to the state’s budget. Payment is delayed, for the moment. The DOJ appears to be using its regular administrative process to decide whether it will follow its initial inclinations.”

The judge said at some point in the future, the case “may help define the contours of the state’s broad constitutional police powers under the Tenth Amendment and the federal government’s ‘broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens.’”

The Trump administration has been cracking down on cities and jurisdictions that offer protections for people in the U.S. illegally.

A federal judge in Northern California has declined a request from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to block the Trump administration’s decision to withhold a law enforcement grant to the state as part of its crackdown on states and jurisdictions that protect illegal immigrants.

Becerra asked for a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's decision, but Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against taking that step.

“The injury threatened is not irreparable,” Orrick wrote. “The amount of money at stake is small compared to the state’s budget. Payment is delayed, for the moment. The DOJ appears to be using its regular administrative process to decide whether it will follow its initial inclinations.”

The judge said at some point in the future, the case “may help define the contours of the state’s broad constitutional police powers under the Tenth Amendment and the federal government’s ‘broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens.’”

The Trump administration has been cracking down on cities and jurisdictions that offer protections for people in the U.S. illegally.